Following up 2024's smash horror hit Longlegs, Osgood Perkins returns on February 21 with The Monkey, his hyper-dark horror comedy that's officially been Rated R by the MPA.
Produced by horror legend James Wan and based on a Stephen King short story of the same name, The Monkey stars Theo James (The White Lotus), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Elijah Wood (Maniac, The Lord Of The Rings, Bookworm), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek).
In The Monkey, when twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.
NEON, reuniting with Perkins to distribute The Monkey, announced today that the R-rated horror has been given the certification for ‘strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references.' Aka, all the good stuff.
NEON also tease that another trailer , titled ‘Furry Friend' will follow this Wednesday, with a Twittter/X post laying out all the issues the MPA have with said trailer, including “bowling ball smashing child's face”, “bloody entrails” and “blood streaming out of woman's eyes”. Sounds like we're in for a nasty one.
We already know that The Monkey is totally different from Longlegs in tone, with both Perkins and James asserting that the film goes as hard on the comedy as it does on the horror.
Look out for The Monkey‘s next trailer on Wednesday, and for more 2025 horror news, read our rundown of next year's most anticipated releases.
THE MONKEY. Rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout, and some sexual references. Trailer Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/LDH7SrjFV7
— NEON (@neonrated) January 6, 2025
